But When We Dance is a touching story about two people who have lots in common – including Parkinson’s.
Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Laura Linney and BAFTA award-winning Rhys Ifans will star in the title roles.
Ifans plays the role of Tony Evans, the deputy head of a local primary school, while Linney portrays Emma Dretzin, a pianist, composer and single mother of two daughters.
Monica Dolan has joined the cast of But When We Dance (Image: Ian West/PA Wire)
The characters do not know each other until an encounter changes the course of their lives when, on the same morning, they are both diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Director John Madden said: “I am really looking forward to telling the story of Tony and Emma – a friendship which unfolds unexpectedly.
“A story of humour and emotion, of challenge and bravado, of music and dance – transcending the assumptions of a little understood condition, and triumphing over the odds to find joy, release and love.”
Monica Dolan, from Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Black Mirror, and Rory Kinnear, who is currently in The Diplomat on Netflix, also star in the 90-minute film.
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Writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2011 at the age of 58, added: “It’s incurable and it makes many of the things I do – walking, talking, smiling – increasingly difficult.
“But though I have reasons to hate Parkinson’s, it has also brought me opportunities I wouldn’t have missed for the world.
“The latest of these is the chance to work with the brilliant director John Madden and wonderful actors on bringing this story to life.”
Parkinson’s UK estimates that someone is diagnosed with Parkinson’s every 20 minutes in the UK.